


The Safety Dance

by juggieheadcoopers



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, One Shot, Tumblr Ask Box Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-29
Updated: 2017-04-29
Packaged: 2018-10-25 11:55:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10763760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/juggieheadcoopers/pseuds/juggieheadcoopers
Summary: The Bughead Homecoming slow dance we didn’t get in 1x11





	The Safety Dance

**Author's Note:**

> Song: The Safety Dance by Sleeping at Last (Men Without Hats Cover)

Jughead scanned the perimeter of the gymnasium, looking past the overload of blue and gold streamers and balloons to watch his classmates step onto the dance floor, their smiles shining just as brightly as the decorations that Betty and her Homecoming committee had worked so hard to set up all afternoon. 

“I’ve never seen so many sequined-lined dresses and uncomfortable-looking footwear in one room before,” Jughead muttered, glancing at a girl from his history class wearing much-too-high heels hobble her way to the opposite side of the room. “This is a new experience for me.” 

“Yeah, well you clearly did not go to the Riverdale Riverdance Club’s annual dance recital in the first grade,” Betty told him, smoothing down the silky fabric of her dress with one hand and reaching out to regain her balance with the other as one of her classmates brushed past her on their way to the refreshments table. “Being backstage in that dressing room was an experience that I’ll never get out of my mind.” 

“Well joke’s on you, Bets, because I was there,” Jughead informed her, meeting her eyes with a leveled stare and willing himself to keep a serious face. 

“Really?” Betty’s heart skipped a beat, her mind traveling to the notion that had always lingered in the back of her thoughts, but never dared reach the surface - Jughead had always been there for her all along, supporting her in everything she did and waiting for her to come to her senses and - 

“Yeah, I was the short one in the back row with two left feet and zero rhythm,” Jughead joked, his lips twitching up into an amused grin as he watched the realization of the joke form on her face. 

“Ha ha, very funny,” Betty mumbled, pushing back Jughead’s shoulder and silently shaking off the thought she had just let cross her mind, cursing herself for her being so self-involved to think such things. 

A crackle sounded from the speakers surrounding the stage, and soon the gymnasium was filled with echoes of pretty melodies and haunting vocals that caused Betty’s head to snap up in surprise. “Juggie,” she breathed, clutching his suit jacket with both hands, the fabric clenching between her fingers as she leaned into the touch. “I love this song.”

“This song?” Jughead gaped at her, his eyes widening and his lips turning up into a mocking smirk. “You love a song that was written as a message to bouncers to stop kicking dancers out of their clubs for pogoing on the dance floor to 80′s new wave music? That’s what we’re going with here?”

“In case you haven’t noticed by now, this particular version of the song is beautiful,” Betty defended the current song playing over the speakers, tugging on Jughead’s jacket sleeve and lightly pulling him towards the middle of the dance floor. “Dance with me?”

“Bets, I wasn’t kidding about that two left feet thing,” Jughead told her, a look of panic washing over his face as he watched the other couples swaying back and forth in time to the music all around him. “I nearly broke my cousin Etta’s big toe trying to waltz at my great aunt Mitsy’s wedding when I was seven. It was traumatic for both parties involved, but I was the one that ended up with the therapy.”

“Please, Juggie,” Betty begged, taking a step forward to close the gap between them, leaning in so that her nose barely brushed the tip of his. “Just this song.”

Jughead’s heart flipped in his chest at the way she was looking at him, all soft eyes and sincere smile, the qualities about her that she knew made him weak in the knees. 

“You’re really hard to turn down when you do the fluttery thing with your eyelashes like that,” Jughead caved, finally letting himself be pulled completely into the crowd of swaying dancers just as the music began to pick up. 

“Thank you,” she whispered, her hands sliding up his arms and snaking around his shoulders to rest comfortably there as he gently placed his own hands on either side of her waist. 

“See?” she breathed as they began moving to the soft and steady beat of the music. “This isn’t so bad, is it?”

“Betty Cooper, I could be skydiving into a shark-infested pool with you and I’d think it was the most natural, life-fulfilling experience of my life,” Jughead admitted, his chin flicking downwards so that he could meet her gaze with warm eyes. 

“Well there’s no way you’d find me anywhere near a pool of sharks or a tiny plane that could crash to its death at any moment so I think that we’d better stick with dancing,” Betty informed him. “I think it’s safer that way.” 

Jughead raised a shocked eyebrow in her direction as the realization of the humorous timing she had just created with her use of the word “safe” sunk in. “Did you really just say that?” 

“Yeah, I think I did,” Betty winced, shaking her head in disappointment at her own accidental pun. “I kind of hate myself for it too.” 

“You should,” Jughead teased, his eyes dancing amusedly as he reached up to smooth down a flyaway strand of golden hair sticking to her forehead. 

“You look happy, Jug,” Betty pointed out, her gaze focused on the genuine smile plastered on his face as they continued to sway to the beat. “Happy looks good on you.” 

“Well I think I can safely say that you are very much a prime factor in the reasoning for that,” Jughead told her, not the least bit concerned with his own use of the word “safe” anymore. As the lyrics continued to pour from the speakers, Jughead realized that the word, and the song, and the dance, had struck a chord with him in a way that he didn’t think possible. “No matter what’s happening on the outside - Jason, Polly, my parents, your parents - I always feel safe, almost lighter somehow, whenever I’m with you. And in case this wasn’t clear, there have been very few times in my life where I have felt that way. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever felt quite like this before.” 

“Neither have I,” Betty breathed, her gaze locked in on Jughead’s. The vulnerability that they were both feeling seemed to linger in the air for a few seconds before disappearing completely, and Jughead pulled Betty tightly to him, hoping that this moment could last much longer than a three minute slow dance. 

“I wish this song could play forever,” Betty whispered into his ear, and Jughead smiled at her uncanny ability to read his thoughts like she always did. 

“Well I don’t think I’m ever going to stop this moment from replaying in my head,” Jughead admitted, pulling back from their embrace to place a gentle hand on her smooth cheek. “So in a way, I think it will.” 

Just as the last note rang out, lingering for a moment and then fading out completely, the crowd of dancing bodies dispersed all around the dance floor, knocking into each other as the next song began to fill the speakers. But even as the upbeat lyrics overtook the soft and gentle atmosphere that they had just blanketed the room, Jughead still held onto Betty, his forehead resting against hers and their eyes closed as they both continued dancing in their minds, never letting the song or the moment or the feeling of safety they felt with this slow dance, ever fade from their memory.


End file.
